Blizzard Entertainment announced Thursday that the subscriber base for World of Warcraft has reached the 12 million people mark worldwide. That’s 12 million people, each paying north of US$10 a pop (up to $14.95, but buying multiple months at a time offers a discount), which some quick, back of the napkin math shows us that Blizzard is ringing up something close to $150 million each and every month.
For those keeping score at home, Blizzard is counting “Subscribers” as those with an active account that are paying through a credit card or store-bought game card, and those with a new account who are in their first month, which is free. Inactive and cancelled subscriptions are not counted, and neither are free, promotional accounts.
World of Warcraft is Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMO for short), a category that usually requires a monthly subscription in addition to the cost of the game itself.
The announcement comes as Blizzard ramps up towards the release of the next (and likely last) expansion for the game, Cataclysm, which is scheduled to be released on December 7th, just in time for the holidays. You can pre-order Cataclysm through Amazon.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm